Day2Day

I was on IRC while I did the Tesco shop this week and it occurred to me that since I would be out when the shopping was delivered it might be fun to add something bizarre to the list for them to puzzle over. I was thinking of something like a coloured lightbulb that wouldn't fit any of our lights but I threw the question open to the IRC audience.

"A pregnancy testing kit!" suggested Ang. Now, this was an interesting proposal but I didn't want to freak them out QUITE that much, so it was dismissed. Even though Ang was very insistant. "I'll cover the cost, do it! Video the reactions!"

_jamez_, meanwhile, came up with the idea of dog food. At least, I think he was first with it. The same shout came from a few corners in the end, among some less than impressive suggestions. So I did it. In the midst of our shopping was a small tub of dog food. In case you're not following this story well, let me enlighten you: We have no dog. We have never had a dog. We have no plans to get a dog.

So I come home and only Raz is still up. Does he say anything? Nope. I glance around the kitchen and find the bits and pieces they haven't put away, probably because they're not sure where they go. The fridge is fairly well stocked. No sign of the meat, presumably it's all in the freezer. Some rolls are on the side, maybe some should go to the freezer, but this can wait.

And there on the side is the dog food.

I wander upstairs and Raz is playing loud music and computer games (he's got a penchant for Wizardry right now).

"Did the shopping get sorted okay?"

He tells me they didn't know whether to freeze the bread rolls or not. Then he shuts up. I offer another opportunity to introduce the dog food question.

"Did they substitute much?"

"I didn't look at the list, I don't know."

It goes quiet. I read my email. And then I crack and admit that I'm highly disappointed that he didn't even MENTION the dog food. What sort of a reaction is that?! So I told him why it was there and he said "Yeah, we did wonder." And that was it.

Maybe I shoulda gone with Ang's plan.

Eugh, I think I'm hungover.

Well I suppose I'd better go to work then.

Saturday seemed to be an extremely long day. It didn't help that I wanted a lie in and forgot to set the alarm to "off" so I was up from 8am. It also didn't help that I spent most of the day rearranging clothes on radiators to try to dry them. I'm never going to let the washing back up for 3 weeks again.

Until next time.

Karen and Ruddy came over on the evening and we tried in vain to find something worth watching on TV. The original plan was to go see Vanilla Sky but somehow it never happened. When they put on the PS2 I retreated and went to bed feeling exhausted. Crazy, really, since I grabbed a couple of hours during the day and it was only midnight.

I think maybe the cold that everyone at work is carrying around is catching up with me. I don't have cold symptoms, really, except a slightly blocked nose. But I am feeling tired a lot and woke up aching a bit this morning. Maybe a day off work is in order. We'll see.

The plan for today is to read the reams and reams of legal stuff from the solicitor and see if I'm meant to sign anything from the pile... And then out to the pub for dinner. I haven't cooked in days and I'm not complaining.

A bunch of entries probably look like they just appeared from nowhere. Truth be told, they were on my own web site all along but I got tired of trying to update livejournal while it went through a phase of falling over every five minutes. However, with the arrival of Ang on the site and the discovery that Robros has been hiding out here too I thought I'd catch up again and fill in the blanks over here.

Nothing's happening. I'm bored.

It's been a long week, somehow. Perhaps because I was so busy last weekend. The mortgage is progressing - slowly but surely. I have documentation that says I've bought the place subject to contract. I have cheques going out to a solicitor and I have a bank that can't input my details because their computer systems are down. First an engineer cut a line he shouldn't have and closed down the whole branch, then when that came back up the mortgage part of the system refused to take any input from all the London branches.

I don't think it matters too much though - the sellers have to move themselves and I've no idea how well they're progressing with finding somewhere to live or what sort of chain arrangement we're going to wind up locked into. I'm not in a rush though as the longer I stay here the more money I build up for furnishing the new place.

Work... no, I don't wanna talk about it.

We just received an email informing us of the following: The business readiness meeting that was planned for this Thursday has now been cancelled. Well, it gave us something to laugh about for a while, anyway.

Meanwhile, I upped the offer I'd made on the house in Peterborough and had it accepted. I went into Halifax this morning (the bank, not the town) and initiated the mortgage application. I'll be finishing this off on Thursday and handing over the first of the vast sums of money you have to part with in order to buy a house. This, of course, is assuming that Egg do their stuff. They're not the fastest company I know for transferring funds, but they've said three to four working days for it to hit my current account. Meanwhile, of course, I lose the savings interest and they gain it but what can you do? I'm also looking into solicitors - or rather, a solicitor. The estate agency recommended them as they do a lot of work with this particular firm. It's a no-sale, no-fee set up and given that I don't have any alternative recommendations I reckon I'll be going with them. It's odd, though, I thought the whole thing would be more nerve wracking than this. Mostly I'm just feeling a vague interest in things and wondering how long it's all going to take. Plenty of time, yet, for things to go wrong, though.

I'm buying a house. I must have turned into a grown up while I wasn't looking. It's kind of scary.

I trecked out to Peterborough today, looked around the city some, found the Estate Agent Corner (why DO they always appear in clusters?) and got down to business. I registered with one agency that dithered and muttered and is meant to get back to me on Monday about seeing places next weekend.

Then I went to the only one that actually sent me info about the properties I saw on their web site. They were much more enthusiastic and I got to see three places today. The first was bloody awful and worried me. Is this all I can afford? I was wondering. There was no way I was going to show an interest in it - there was damp, it was in real need of decorating, the kitchen smelt of curry and the doors didn't fit into the frames properly.

My hopes weren't high after this, but I was given directions to a place around 20 minutes out of the city (20 minutes if you don't go in the wrong direction halfway there...) and I was shown around by the current owner. It is a little far from the train station, and the outside doesn't look great but the inside was brilliant. Great kitchen and dining area. Three bedrooms, a little on the small side, but perfectly adequate. Cosy living room. Nice small garden with a shed. Extremely well maintained throughout (uh-oh, been spending too much time listening to estate agents!). Suffice to say, I came away wanting it. Especially given the history - it was on the market and sold before Christmas but the buyers messed the owner around leading him to lose his potential property that was next along the chain. He brought down the price for the second attempt and it took it to just below the point where stamp duty kicks in.

Back at the estate agents' office we took a trip to property number three. Another guy in the place was really keen on this place, told us how we'd need to be quick on this as there was lots of interest and it was marvellously redecorated and ... etc etc ... So we went to check it out, me and Mr Estate Agent. The layout of the place was a bit weird, like the first one. The stairs are ultra steep and at the top there is a bedroom to the left and to the right. Going through the one to the left brings you to another bedroom. Who wants people traipsing through their room every night?! And the bathroom is downstairs and off the kitchen which I'm not too keen on. But despite being freshly decorated and newly carpeted, this place has some pretty nasty damp problems as well. At this was going for the same price as the really good house.

We got back to the office and I made a snap decision. Either Nice House is underpriced, or Nasty House and Okay House With Problems are overpriced. But the price is something I can afford, I can put up with (make use of, even) the walking distance as it's all healthy exercise and by putting in an offer I save the hassle of wandering through to Peterborough every weekend for the foreseeable future. So I did it. Made an offer, had it accepted, and Monday I get to do the scary solicitor stuff and start to work out all the finances.

I'm buying a house. A real one with walls and bedrooms and everything. Eep. Wish me luck!